Province of North-Brabant and TU/e intensify collaboration with Ohio in Smart Mobility

20 November 2017

The province of North-Brabant, the city of Columbus, the state of Ohio, TU/e and Ohio State University will intensify their collaboration and knowledge sharing in the area of ‘Smart and Green Mobility’ and have signed a declaration of intent.

Signing the agreement was part of the Smart Mobility innovation mission with Dutch governments, knowledge institutes and market players which is currently taking place in the United States and Canada.

According to Delegate Christophe van der Maat, Ohio, the Netherlands and in particular Brabant, are leading when it comes to developing, practice testing and application of Smart Mobility. To further strengthen that leading position the collaboration will be intensified as well as sharing knowledge and experiences which is why the declaration of intent was signed.

On top of that the exchange of students between TU/e and Ohio State University will be stimulated and facilitated.

Smart City Challenge

Columbus, the capital of the state of Ohio, is very active in the area of Smart Mobility. In 2016 the city won the Smart City Challenge, in which 78 mid-size American cities took part. Experts expect Columbus to play an important role in the future of mobility, with shared, electrical, connected and autonomous vehicles.

Signing the declaration of intent by the province is an addition to the declaration of intent that was signed last year by Ohio and various parties of the south of the Netherlands that are involved in Smart Mobility. TU Eindhoven, AutomotiveNL and Brainport Development signed that declaration of intent to collaborate with Ohio State University and its partners the City of Columbus and Ohio State.

Over the past few years the Partners in Business program ‘Coast to Coast Smart e-Mobility’ brought these parties together and is responsible for the signing of this new agreement.